


Ritual

by Hours_Gone_By



Series: Prowl x Jazz Hallowe'en Challenge 2019 [5]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers Generation One, Transformers – All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe – College/University, Alternate Universe – Supernatural, Books, College, Community: prowlxjazz, Community: whatif-au, Cuddling & Snuggling, Demons, Dorms, Established Relationship, Family, Grimoires/Magical Texts, Horror, Implied/Referenced Sex, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Moving, Rituals, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-31 20:02:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21252872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hours_Gone_By/pseuds/Hours_Gone_By
Summary: Summer is over, and Prowl leaves for college back home in Praxus, resuming the plans he had initially had for his life – plus Jazz. Unfortunately, Jazz's new apartment comes with a very unpleasant neighbour.Takes place afterReplay,Ghost Stories,Homework, andWorking Magic.
Relationships: Jazz/Prowl, Prowl & Bluestreak, Prowl & Chase (OC)
Series: Prowl x Jazz Hallowe'en Challenge 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1514009
Comments: 14
Kudos: 55
Collections: Halloween Challenge 2019, Spooktober 2019, What If? AU Challenge





	Ritual

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [The Prowl x Jazz Community](https://prowlxjazz.dreamwidth.org)'s [Halloween Bingo 2019](https://prowlxjazz.dreamwidth.org/1745822.html#comments) on [Dreamwidth](https://prowlxjazz.dreamwidth.org) and used for the [What If? AU Challenge's](https://whatif-au.dreamwidth.org) October 2019 [Supernatural AU challenge](https://whatif-au.dreamwidth.org/tag/challenge31), and the [Spooktober Challenge (Prompt: monster).](https://spooktoberchallenge.dreamwidth.org/732.html)

When Prowl's creator had moved their family away from Praxus on changing jobs, Prowl hadn't expected anything other than a quiet summer before he started at the Academy of Cybertronian Law Enforcement. That had changed when a new neighbour moved into the house across the street. Jazz had initially introduced himself to Prowl because he was looking for a long-range comm suite since his house's hadn't been activated yet. There had been an attraction, but Prowl hadn't thought it would go further than perhaps a drink or two. Later, he'd seen his new neighbour outside their house, clearly distressed about something, and gone to help. They had discovered Jazz's house was haunted – truly, genuinely haunted – and Prowl had helped the mech locate the corpse of a murder victim hidden inside the walls.

Prowl didn't plan to tell people about that when they asked how he and Jazz had met.

Thankfully, that had been the only in-person experience with the supernatural Prowl had had. He didn't regret having had it: they had uncovered a murder, thereby giving closure to the victim's family, and he'd become closer with Jazz. Prowl's younger sibling, Bluestreak, had been part of an allegedly cursed play performed at his school, but there had been no more disaster than to be expected when coordinating large groups of young adolescents. Prowl had also decrypted an ancient grimoire, a book on magic, for Jazz's mentor, Half-step. Again, there had been no disaster.

Prowl's relationship with Jazz had blossomed over the summer, even though they both knew that Prowl was leaving at the end of it. When they'd started seeing each other, Prowl had thought he'd be content with a summer romance; sweet, enjoyable, but ultimately short. It hadn't taken long, though, before Prowl had begun to think about how they could change it to a long-distance relationship when Prowl went to school. Now, with less than a deca-cycle before his departure, they were talking about it seriously.

"Got good news about that," Jazz, curled up on a couch next to Prowl in Jazz's living room, told him. "'Step knows a guy who can get me a gig as a musician on a luxury liner, goes out to Numedides and back over a deca-cycle. Two deca-cycles on and two off, and they shuttle all the passengers up to the ship from Praxus. We'd still be long-distance half the time, but…"

"You'd move for me?" Prowl asked. "But – you just got here." And Half-step wanted Jazz to live with him. Not every adult newbuild had a familial relationship with their mentor, but Jazz and Half-step did.

"Half-step's the one who offered to help me find something so I could stay closer to you," Jazz said and grinned. "He ships us. Besides, a long-term gig would be a good thing, especially since I'm still kinda new on the scene. Need to build up some contacts, bit of a portfolio, that kinda thing. Big side benefits plus the regular ones that come from being near you."

"Regular benefits?" Prowl inquired, absently running his fingertips up and down Jazz's arm. He knew the answers, but he wanted to hear his lover say them anyway.

"Well, yeah," Jazz said, smiling at him and moving to straddle Prowl's lap. "Like this."

Jazz kissed him, and Prowl responded, holding Jazz's waist in his hands and sighing happily into the kiss.

"I do like these benefits," Prowl murmured.

"Me too. Wanna go over the rest of them? In detail?"

"Very much."

Jazz smiled broadly and led a willing Prowl to his room.

* * *

Bluestreak was staying with their creator and was decidedly unhappy about Prowl leaving. He was less upset and angry about it than he had been immediately after they moved, having changed from regular sulking to intermittent moping. Bluestreak had made friends, which helped, and Prowl had made an effort to spend time with him, hoping to take the edge of his unhappiness. Bluestreak might occasionally get on Prowl's nerves, but he had a good spark, and he and Prowl did love each other.

"When will you come back and visit?" Bluestreak asked, standing in the doorway of Prowl's room with his arms folded and his doors tilted down.

"At the end of each term," Prowl told him. Prowl was sorting through his belongings, deciding what to bring with him and what to leave. He would share a room in an Academy dormitory with a roommate since he couldn't currently afford to live off-campus. (Though, if things continued to work out with Jazz, perhaps he could have an apartment next year with his lover. The idea gave Prowl a little thrill.)

"But…you've always been here," Bluestreak said in a small voice, looking down.

Prowl set the data pads in his hands down on his desk and went to his sibling, ducking down just enough he could look his sibling in the optics.

"I had to leave sometime, little spark," Prowl said gently. "You know I've always wanted to go to the Academy."

"Yeah, but – back in Praxus, you could've still lived with us. You were _going _to live with us. I thought – " Bluestreak looked away again. "I thought you'd be around longer."

"Oh, Blue." Prowl hugged the younger mech. "I love you, that's never going to change, no matter how far away I go."

Bluestreak didn't reply, just hugged Prowl back harder. Prowl let him, for as long as he needed.

* * *

Prowl spent the second-last night before his departure with Jazz, a night of lovemaking and soft lover's promises. They did sleep, but not much.

"I know I'm going to see you again soon," Jazz said when they parted the next day at Prowl's door, "but I still don't want to let you go." He ran his fingers over Prowl's cheek strut. "Kinda gone and fallen in love with you, Prowl mine."

Prowl pulled Jazz near and rested their forehelms together, gripping Jazz's hands in his. "I love you, too."

They kissed, and it might have gone further, but Bluestreak called out to Prowl from inside the house, and they had to part.

"Go spend time with your sib," Jazz said. "I'll see you tomorrow before you go, okay?"

Prowl stole one more kiss before he went inside. "Yes."

* * *

Prowl spent the last day and night before he left with his creator and sibling. Chase let Bluestreak stay up late until the adolescent was visibly tired and went to bed almost without prompting. Then it was just Chase and Prowl, sitting out on the terrace, talking to each other.

"I can't believe you're going to college already," Chase said wistfully. "Sometimes, I feel like you just came online a few cycles ago. My first creation, my brightspark, all upgraded and ready to go off on their own."

"It's going to be odd, not being near you and Bluestreak," Prowl admitted. "I've always had the two of you around."

"And we've always had you nearby. You've been such a help with Bluestreak," Chase said, glancing up in the direction of Bluestreak's room. "Especially after the move."

"He'll be alright," Prowl reassured his creator. "He has friends now. That will help."

"I know. He'll settle down, just – make sure to call regularly, alright, Prowl?"

Prowl smiled gently at his creator. "I will. I'm going to miss you both, Creator."

Chase reached over and squeezed Prowl's hand. "We'll miss you too, sweetspark, but – well, you delayed your schooling to help me after I lost my last job even though you've wanted the Academy so badly for so long. I'm glad you're finally getting back on the track you want."

"I'm not sorry I delayed to help you out," Prowl told his creator, "but so am I."

* * *

Prowl's first seven cycles at the Academy of Cybertronian Law Enforcement were busy. His roommate was a quiet, slightly nervous, mech named Red Alert, who had upgraded their dorm room's security before he'd even unpacked. On reviewing it and comparing it to the default settings, Prowl had to agree that Red Alert had greatly improved it. Red Alert was studious, already throwing himself into his coursework and grateful that Prowl didn't mind him keeping to himself. Prowl thought he could manage to share living space with Red Alert for their first stellar-cycle of school, and that was the most he'd expected, being matched with a stranger.

Prowl kept his promise to Bluestreak and called him twice in those days. Prowl showed his sibling and creator his side of the dorm room using a tablet and fielded Bluestreak's many questions about college. That was a good sign: Bluestreak was bright and curious, and how many questions he asked was often an indicator of his mood. Prowl was relieved to see that Bluestreak seemed to be adjusting to his absence.

Jazz arrived in Praxus on the eighth cycle, and Prowl helped him move into the small apartment he'd found, again courtesy of one of Half-step's contacts. The apartment was in a house that had been converted into four units: a loft in the attic, two side-by-side on the main floor, and another one in the basement, which was untenanted. It had been converted to storage space for the other three units, apparently. Jazz's unit shared an entryway with the basement unit, the exterior door leading to a tiny landing with one door leading into Jazz's apartment and another leading downstairs.

"I know it's not that great yet," Jazz said when they had finished, "but d'you want to stay the night? Missed you lots, Prowler."

"I missed you too," Prowl told him with a kiss. "Yes, of course, I'll stay."

Jazz had driven himself to Praxus, hauling his gear in a trailer, which his alt-mode wasn't really designed to do, and was tired. They didn't make love that night, just snuggled close and recharged together, and Prowl was perfectly happy with that.

Prowl was woken up in the middle of the night, thinking he heard someone moving around in the apartment below, but a few nano-kliks of listening only resulted in silence and he slept again.

It was a weekend, and so Prowl spent it with Jazz, planning to return to his dorm the night before classes resumed. Jazz was more alert the next day, and Prowl took him around the city, showing Jazz his favourite places in his hometown. He also helped Jazz pick out a few decorative items for his new home, pleased to discover their tastes were similar or complimentary in many ways.

"Been a great day, yeah?" Jazz said contemplatively that night, sprawled out on his new-to-him couch with his head in Prowl's lap. "Really enjoyed spending it with you, love."

Prowl smiled, feeling his spark warm at being called 'love.'

"I enjoyed spending it with you, too, darling." Prowl stroked a hand over Jazz's bumper. "I've missed you."

"Missed you too, Prowler." Jazz took Prowl's hand and kissed it, nibbling gently at the fingertips. "Love you lots, babe."

"I love you, too." Prowl toyed with the rim of one of Jazz's headlights. "Would you like to feel how much?"

"Oh yeah!"

Prowl adored having Jazz in his systems and didn't hold back from letting him feel it when they interfaced. Jazz slept afterward, head on Prowl's chest, while Prowl dozed and held him loosely. Prowl was just about asleep when he again heard noises from the basement apartment. They were strange-sounding, and he frowned, awake now and analyzing. Could it just be the way the sound was echoing?

"Nnh…Prowler? Wha's wrong?" Jazz, still jacked into Prowl and therefore slightly aware of his emotions even without an active connection, woke, visor flickering muzzily online. He heard the sounds right away. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Prowl said, keeping his voice down. "What does it sound like to you?"

Jazz, fully awake now, focused, and Prowl fell silent, waiting for him.

"Oh, I don't like this," Jazz muttered. He disengaged from Prowl and sat up. "Prowl. Whatever it is, it's got nearly the same infrasound frequency as the haunting did."

There was a moment of utter silence between them, the noises from downstairs only background noise.

"Did you," Prowl said finally, entirely and inappropriately calm, "move into _another _haunted house?"

Jazz swore creatively. "I swear to _Primus_ I'm never using anyone 'Step recommends for living space ever again."

"Do you think," Prowl said uncertainly, "we should go down and make sure nothing and no one is there?"

"Prowl, I love you, but do you not watch horror movies?"

"It's beginning to appear I have little need," Prowl said drily, sitting up as well. "Very well. What would you like to do?"

Jazz sighed. "Well, haven’t gotten paid yet so moving's out. Maybe it's like the last haunting – not a thing I ever thought I'd say – and it'll only last a little while?"

Something thumped against the ceiling; Prowl felt the vibration, something that had not been present in the haunting at Jazz's house, even though they'd heard a body being dragged and dropped to the floor. They also hadn't been able to hear the noise of the haunting outside the house proper. This was different.

Taps sounded along the floor, running underneath the bed. Prowl had the sickening, eerie, feeling that whatever was making the noise below knew they were there.

"I heard noises last night," Prowl said, keeping his voice down. "Only briefly. They didn't sound like this, and they didn't go on as long."

As if in answer, there was a rapid series of knocks, then the sound of scratching, as if something were trapped in the floor. Prowl would have put it down to glitch-mice or turbo-rats or even bolt-bats trapped in the basement somehow, except for what followed: something laughing, low and menacing, in the dark. The two mecha moved closer to each other, seeking safety and reassurance as the scratching sounded again.

Scanning his datatrax for some idea of what to do, Prowl found something he'd read in the grimoire he'd translated for Half-step.

'_Jazz. I think I know what it might be – and you're not going to like it.' _

Prowl pinged his lover a screen capture of the page in the grimoire that described a demon infestation. The grimoire had alleged that the demons had been locked away by Primus, true, but it had also given instructions on how to summon one. Perhaps a mortal's summoning could override the will of a god after all? If so, whatever mortal had done so had failed to properly control or banish the entity.

Jazz was quiet for a few nano-kliks, and Prowl guessed he was thoroughly reading the page.

_'You're right, I don’t like it. So far as taking care of things go, I've got some silver in the kitchen_,' Jazz said finally. '_For flavouring, but…_'

'_What are you thinking?_' Prowl asked. '_Protection? Or banishment?_'

'_The grimoire tells you how to banish a demon? Can you pull it off? Don't you need to, don't know, study or something?_'

'_The instructions specify that the most valuable aspect of performing a banishment is focus and strength of will. I believe I can, yes.'_

_'Okay.' _Jazz's trust in him was gratifying. '_Don't we have to go down to the basement, though, to do that?'_

_'Unfortunately, yes. Would you prefer to wait until morning?'_

'_D'you think it'll be dormant then or something?_'

'_I think it's always there, though perhaps more active at night. If I understood the grimoire correctly, it would be active whenever it is most likely to engender fear._'

'_Well, it's engendering some fear right now, gotta say._' Jazz sighed. '_Right. C'mon, then. If it's always there, I suppose there's no point waiting. What else d'you need?_'

Jazz's kitchen was relatively well-stocked, a side effect of having had to buy everything new that weekend. Prowl was able to gather what the grimoire had said were the necessary materials to create a protective circle in short order. He reviewed the ritual again, memorizing it and queuing the words for his vocalizer, ready to speak once the circle was complete. The preparation would help prevent him from being interrupted.

'_I can't believe I'm going into a demon-infested basement in the middle of the night. If I die doing this, Half-step's gonna have me re-sparked just to offline me again himself._'

'_In horror movies mecha go into basements alone, and that is what puts them in danger,_' Prowl pointed out as they left Jazz's apartment and crammed themselves into the tiny entryway. He took Jazz's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. '_We're together._'

'_Yeah.' _Jazz managed a smile for Prowl. '_I got your back, love._'

As a tenant, Jazz had access to the storage unit, and he unlocked the door and turned on the lights. Prowl's sensors assured him that the lights were producing a normal amount of illumination, but somehow the ramp-well leading down seemed darker than it should have been. Prowl squeezed Jazz's hand again, not sure which one of them he was reassuring. Perhaps it was both.

The basement unit was still clearly an apartment, with secure doors on three of the rooms. The centre of the room was clean: a light pulsed lazily over a little hatch in the wall, indicating a cleaning drone was charging its power cell. Prowl wished he could have attributed the sounds of movement from the previous night and earlier that night to the drone. Unfortunately, the drone couldn't possibly have laughed or scratched or tapped on the ceiling.

The drone must have detected the minerals Prowl had carefully arranged on the floor because it undocked and emerged. Jazz caught it before it could try and clean up the circle, and it beeped in distress until he shut it off. The noises the drone made were preferable to the sounds the demon made: banging, scratching, whispering things that Prowl could almost but not quite make out.

'_Don't speak to it,_' Prowl advised Jazz. '_I know it's hard, but try to ignore it, or else you'll just give it power._'

'_Gotcha. Vocalizer off._'

Prowl did not like the basement, he did not like the noises, and he hoped he would be able to get the nearly-comprehensible whispers out of his memory at some point. He would have liked to hurry, but the grimoire had stressed the need for care and precision, the dangers of a poorly-performed rite. It felt as though it took forever, but finally, Prowl was able to draw Jazz into the circle and pour a final line of mixed silver and salt to close it. Just on the edge of the circle Prowl had drawn a special glyph that was supposed to dissipate when the demon was truly gone.

Prowl held Jazz's hands and let his vocalizer process the queued ritual words.

The demon was _not_ happy, to put it mildly. The whispers became growls then turned to shrieks. Prowl resisted the urge to rush, to get out, reminding himself of the dangers the grimoire spoke of. A broken or incomplete banishment would only leave the demon in this reality and, as demons were predators, running would only catch its attention. Prowl could not afford to be prey. He would not put Jazz at risk. Prowl focused his will, as the grimoire had said to do, thinking only of pushing the entity back to the plane it was supposed to belong to. The demon fought, hissing and growling, but Prowl was determined. It took nearly a joor, but Prowl was able to successfully complete the rite. The noises stopped, the room seemed lighter, and Prowl saw that the glyph he'd drawn on the circle's edge had dissipated.

"Are we done?" Jazz asked after a klik of silence. "I mean, feels like it should be, but…"

"It's done." Prowl didn't let go of Jazz's hands or step out of the circle, though. "We can clean up and leave."

"I'm just gonna turn the drone back on. I don't wanna be in here any longer than we've got to be."

Prowl definitely shared that sentiment. He broke the circle with a sweep of his foot, Jazz retrieved the drone and turned it on – it beeped cheerfully when it powered up – and left it to clear the floor. They were more than happy to leave the drone to its work and lock the basement behind them.

"Even this place feels a little different," Jazz mused as they stepped into his apartment. "Thought it was just me being in a new place, living alone for the first time. I wonder if that thing was just tainting the whole building."

"I don't know." Prowl didn't particularly care to find out, either.

"One thing's for sure, anyway," Jazz said, locking his door and turning to put his arms around Prowl's waist. "We get our own place, it's gonna be a new building. Brand new, no murders, no deaths, no demons, nothing. New and clean. Yeah?"

"It would be worth the expense," Prowl said. "Ah – our place?"

"In the future," Jazz said quickly. "Way too soon now, I know. But I think it'll happen. I hope it will."

"We'll make it happen," Prowl promised, smiling. "But I agree with what you said earlier: when we do, we should definitely _not _accept Half-step's recommendation."

Jazz laughed. "No argument there, love. No argument there."

**Author's Note:**

> According to Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac II (by way of TFWiki), [Numedides is a moon orbiting Thulsa Doom](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Thulsa_Doom), the final planet in Cybertron's solar system.


End file.
